Horrified by images of fellow Muslims burning
embassies in their name, thousands gather in London to
stand up for moderation. Meanwhile, links between
other London protesters and paramilitary group emerge
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why I reject the anarchists who claim to speak for
Islam

Violence in the name of Islam has done more to damage
the Prophet than any Danish cartoon, argues writer
Fareena Alam

Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1707922,00.html
As a young British Muslim woman, watching the events
of the past two weeks has been a depressing
experience. One minute, we were subject to
outrageously insulting caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad, a man who is beloved and central to the core
of my faith; the next, the hooliganism of a small
minority of Muslim protesters took centre stage. These
anarchists have walked right into the hands of those
who believe Muslims have nothing to offer. They have
burnt down embassies, pillaged public property and
threatened social order - all in the name of a prophet
who, they claim, is a mercy to mankind, the same man
who was known to welcome and respect ambassadors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The young Muslim who dressed as a suicide bomber to
protest against newspaper cartoons has been condemned
and sent back to prison. Declan Walsh in Punjab hears
Omar Khayam's family defend their 'bright, sensitive
child'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muslims are reaching out to fellow Canadians in hopes
of erasing images of cartoon violence

WITH VIOLENT protests continuing to erupt around the
world over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed as
a terrorist, a local Muslim leader wants to bring less
heat and more light to a crisis that has pitted
religious rights against free speech.

Imam Gamal Solaiman will throw open the doors of the
city's main mosque tomorrow afternoon and invite the
public to listen to a talk about the life of Islam's
revered prophet and why Muslims were so offended by
the political caricatures published by European
newspapers.

"Loyalty to him is considered loyalty to the religion
itself," said Solaiman of the revered teacher Muslims
believe was chosen by Allah to hear and pass on the
words of the Koran.

"It's the arrogance in response to the Muslim
complaint -- that's what drives people mad," said
Solaiman, who will be delivering his 1 p.m. talk at
the Northwestern Ave. mosque.

"The trouble with our experience of this, the trouble
with the western media, they forget about the cause
and speak about the symptom. They forget what
triggered that. No one speaks about it now, they only
talk about the violent nature of the demonstration,"
said Solaiman.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thousands of Muslims will gather in central London
today in a show of defiance against Islamic extremists
who last week called for the death of Westerners after
the publication of cartoons defiling the image of the
Prophet Mohamed.

The rally is expected to be one of the biggest Muslim
demonstrations to ever take place in Britain.
Organisers of the event have told Muslim agitators
that they will not be welcome and the Metropolitan
Police have said they will arrest anyone carrying
banners intended to incite violence. Police are also
prepared to combat any threat from extreme right-wing
groups, including the BNP, who may want to try to
hijack the event.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thousands of British Muslims flocked into Trafalgar
Square yesterday to express their anger at the
publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad
as a terrorist.

But they also voiced their rejection of the wave of
violent protest that has swept the Muslim world during
the past two weeks over the cartoons, first published
in a small Danish newspaper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reborn extremist sect had key role in London protest

· Group shares leaders with 'disbanded' al-Muhajiroun
· Members owe allegiance to man excluded from UK

When worldwide Muslim fury over cartoons of the
Prophet spread to Britain, the flag-burning protests
outside the Danish embassy in London appeared to be an
entirely spontaneous outpouring of anger.

Inquiries by the Guardian have shown, however, that a
key role in organising the demonstration was played by
an Islamist sect whose supporters have repeatedly been
linked to violence and terrorism.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"While we understand this issue is deeply sensitive,
the solution cannot be found in silencing newspapers,"
said Ann Cooper of the Committee to Protect
Journalists.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emma, Ann and a sex doll that upsets Muslims
Published: 09 February 2006

* The latest public figure to stand accused of
defiling the Prophet Mohamed is not some Danish
cartoonist, or French newspaper editor, but a hapless
British Page 3 girl called Emma B.

Yesterday, the erotic retailer Ann Summers unveiled
Miss B as the "face" of its new range of products.

Not 24 hours later, she finds herself on the front
line of Islamic protest after Muslim leaders
discovered that the range includes a new blow-up doll,
called "Mustafa Shag".

Unfortunately, Mustafa was one of the names given to
the Prophet Mohamed. Bestowing it upon, in the words
of its catalogue, "an inflatable escort for your
hen-night adventures" is considered highly offensive.

The Manchester Central Mosque has already written to
the firm, calling on it to withdraw the product.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zafar Khan

Denmark s new values What was once a liberal country lurched to the far right while the world was not looking Kiku Day Wednesday February 15, 2006 The Guardian

Message 2 of 2
, Feb 16, 2006

0 Attachment

Denmark's new values

What was once a liberal country lurched to the far
right while the world was not looking

Denmark has at last managed to catch the world's eye,
after so many years of failing to get credit for being
at the cutting edge of liberalism. But the inelegant
handling of the controversy over the cartoons of the
prophet Muhammad is the result of a country that has
been moving in the direction of xenophobia and racism
- especially towards its Muslim inhabitants.

The world needs to realise that the Denmark that
helped Jews flee from Nazi deportation is long gone. A
new Denmark has appeared, a Denmark of intolerance and
a deep-seated belief in its cultural superiority.

We were a liberal and tolerant people until the 1990s,
when we suddenly awoke to find that for the first time
in our history we had a significant minority group
living among us. Confronted with the terrifying
novelty of being a multicultural country, Denmark took
a step not merely to the right but to the far right.
Now, politicians of most stripes have embraced
ignorance.
The Social Democrats, formerly Denmark's largest party
and the force behind its postwar social reforms, were
forced to realise that the rhetoric of solidarity and
social reforms no longer impressed voters in an
increasingly prosperous economy. To win support
mainstream politicians felt they needed to bully the
same scapegoat blamed by the far right for the social
problems arising in modern Danish society, in the form
of the Muslim minority. The rhetoric of politicians
and media hardened and became offensive. Where else
could liberal politicians get away with saying that
one of their party's main aims is to stop Turkey
joining the EU?

The discussion has focused on freedom of expression,
but that is not what Jyllands-Posten had in mind when
it published the caricatures, nor is it the prime
mission of the rightwing Danish government. Denmark
has embarked on a self-declared crusade to tell others
how to live. The prime minister, Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, is quoted as saying: "Freedom of speech
should be used to provoke and criticise political or
religious authoritarians."

The Danish establishment weighed in on its leader's
side. The rightwing newspaper Weekendavisen - at one
time Denmark's foremost intellectual journal -
justified Rasmussen's initial reaction of indifference
to complaints about the cartoons and his refusal to
meet with 10 concerned ambassadors from Muslim
countries as "a desire for an activist foreign policy
which has clashed with the traditional diplomatic wish
to smooth things over". An MEP, Mogens Camre,
declared: "It is 2005 and there is no reason
whatsoever to respect foolish superstition in any
form."

Following the lead of the moderates, the founder of
the ultra-rightwing Danish People's party, Pia
Kjærsgaard, felt emboldened to say that in order to
qualify for citizenship, immigrants must not only
master the Danish language but be examined on their
respect for Danish society and its values. The words
"Danish values" are repeated reverentially, as if all
Danes possess a single mindset opposed to that held by
Muslims. Kjærsgaard tells her countrymen the issue is
not one of cartoons, but concerns rather a titanic
struggle of values between totalitarian, dogmatic
Islamic regimes and the freedom and liberty beloved of
western democracies. Meanwhile the 200,000 Muslims
living in Denmark have been denied a permit to build a
mosque in Copenhagen. There is not a single Muslim
cemetery in the country.

It is now obvious that Flemming Rose, the culture
editor at Jyllands-Posten who commissioned the
cartoonists to satirise the prophet, exhibited a
striking lack of judgment. His subsequent decision to
salvage things by planning to publish anti-semitic and
anti-Christian caricatures went beyond the bounds of
the permissible in Jyllands-Posten's and Denmark's
crusade for free speech. Chief editor Carsten Juste
finally intervened and sent Rose on indefinite leave.

An indefinite holiday is not enough. As the former
foreign minister and Venstre party leader Uffe
Elleman-Jensen has suggested, we need editors who
realise that just bad judgment can have important
consequences. Both Juste and Rose need to step down.

And how have ordinary Danes reacted? The People's
party reported that last week it had received almost
17 times as many applications for membership as
normal. Is this the future for Denmark? These are the
new "Danish values", and the world needs to be aware
of the dangers of a country that went off on the wrong
track while nobody noticed.

The editor in chief of a student-led newspaper serving
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has
been suspended for printing cartoons depicting the
Prophet Muhammad that, when published in Europe,
enraged Muslims and led to violent protests in the
Middle East and Asia.

Editor Acton Gorton and his opinions editor, Chuck
Prochaska, were relieved of their duties at The Daily
Illini on Tuesday while a task force investigates "the
internal decision-making and communication" that led
to the publishing of the cartoons, according to a
statement by the newspaper's publisher and general
manager, Mary Cory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The editorial staff of the independent daily newspaper
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said
Monday that its members were embarrassed by how the
decision was made to run controversial Danish cartoons
of the prophet Muhammad last week.

"We want to make it clear that while we do not
necessarily disagree with the decision to print these
cartoons, we disagree with how they were run," read
the unsigned editorial in Tuesday's Daily Illini.

The decision to run six of the 12 Danish cartoons in
the paper's Feb. 9 edition was made by only two
editors--a decision not supported by the full
editorial staff, according to the editorial.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a rear room of a stately old house at the far end
of West North Avenue, about 30 Muslims gathered for
Friday prayer service.

The congregation was made up of black Americans. A
young black man in dreadlocks walked to the front of
the room and sang the opening prayer in Arabic. The
Muslims intermittently prayed by either bending over
at the waist and touching their knees or by dropping
to their knees and placing their foreheads on the
floor.

They're as devout a group of Muslims as anywhere else
in the world. And they're just as offended by the
cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in European newspapers
that has led to rioting in the Muslim world. (No
images of the Prophet Muhammad, offensive or
otherwise, are permitted in Islam.) But rioting was
the last thing on their minds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seventy-thousand demonstrators surged through the
Pakistani city of Peshawar, clashing with police and
ransacking western-linked businesses yesterday, as
violence again flared over cartoons depicting the
prophet Muhammad.

Rioters torched a KFC restaurant, a Norwegian phone
office, banks and cinemas in the third day of violence
in the north-western city and Pakistan's largest
protest yet. Baton-wielding police fired teargas to
contain the crowd and two people died, including an
eight-year-old boy hit by a stray bullet. The
government deployed troops and ordered the closure of
all schools in the area for a week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several thousand people have protested in Pakistan's
Karachi city over the publication in the West of
cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. In the
fourth successive day of demonstrations, tens of
thousands of protestors joined a rally called by
religious parties. At least five people have died
after protests against cartoons across Pakistan turned
violent this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~